In many medical diagnostic procedures, it is desirable or even necessary to generate an image representation of a relatively large volume of the subject. U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,315 shows a magnetic resonance imaging system with a thin cylindrical uniform field volume which enables to generate a three-dimensional diagnostic image of an elongated section of a subject by continuously moving the subject through the cylindrical uniform field volume. This is accomplished by varying the RF frequency in accordance with patient movement through the uniform field volume. The frequency of the RF pulse is varied linearly as the patient is shifted along the uniform field volume such that the selected slice position remains constant with respect to the (moving) patient.
This prior art approach is disadvantaged from an image processing perspective. Another disadvantage is that the time which is required for data acquisition is relatively long.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method, computer program product and device for magnetic resonance imaging.